


Reassurances

by kaeorin



Series: Loki's Lullabies [163]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Anxiety, Avenger Reader (Marvel), Comfort, Dress Up, F/M, Fear, Good Loki (Marvel), Mirrors, Nervousness, Promises, Reader-Insert, Self-Doubt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:07:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27928018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaeorin/pseuds/kaeorin
Summary: Your nerves get the better of you before you’re meant to go back to Asgard with Loki, but, as always, he is there to save you.
Relationships: Loki (Marvel)/Reader
Series: Loki's Lullabies [163]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1678240
Comments: 7
Kudos: 108





	Reassurances

“What if they don’t like me?”

It sounded so stupid when you said it out loud like that, but the thought had been gnawing at you from the very first moment that Loki brought this up. He was headed back to Asgard for some grand assembly, and he wanted you there with him. You. An Earthling. A Midgardian. A mortal. Up until today, it had seemed like such a distant threat. It had been looming, make no mistake about that, but it was like your brain never quite allowed you to think about it as something that was really going to happen. 

But now here you were. Wearing the nicest Midgardian dress that you could afford—which still wasn’t that nice, especially, you were certain, compared to the clothing that they wore in Asgard. You’d attempted some kind of makeup look, but your trembling hands and lurching stomach had forced you to stick with something rather plain. Loki liked how you looked, but you had to remind yourself that he liked how you looked when you were wearing lounging-around clothes with your hair pulled back in a ponytail and yesterday’s makeup still smeared around your eyes. His opinion was not at all indicative of what his family—the King and Queen of Asgard—would think of you.

You met Loki’s gaze in the mirror. He looked baffled. That didn’t happen often, not with you. When he caught you looking at him, he came up behind you and rested his hands on your hips. “Why wouldn’t they like you?” His voice sounded like he meant the question to be rhetorical, but all the many answers whirled through your mind so quickly that it made you dizzy.

“I’m human. I’m common. I’m not like you. I have no idea what it means to be royal. I don’t know how to behave in the presence of royalty. I have no idea how to curtsy or when to do it or what to say to them or if I should say anything to them. What if I say something stupid? What if I make eye contact with them when I’m not supposed to and I cause a war between the realms? What if I can’t make myself say anything to them and they think I’m stuck-up or—or just too stupid to be with you?” You might actually be sick. You caught the briefest glimpse of Loki’s face in the mirror—he was looking at you like he was seeing you for the first time. But then you hid your face in your hands. 

“It’s alright, sweet love. You are the furthest thing from common. Breathe…” Slowly, he rocked his weight from one foot to the other and dragged you with him, into something like a dance. It wasn’t complicated, but something about the motion was enough to draw your attention away from the mess that was your insides. He hummed quietly, directly into your ear, and let his hands come to rest on your belly. “I’ll be right beside you the whole time. I’ll protect you.”

You didn’t want to let his words comfort you. You didn’t want to let him distract you with his gentle touch and his warm voice and the way he kept you on your feet, right now and always. But it was hard to keep quite so tight a grip on your fears. “You can’t protect me from their thoughts,” you mumbled, but the words sounded weak even to you.

He laughed and lowered his mouth to press his lips against your neck. You were wearing the perfume he liked; you heard him draw in a deep breath and growl appreciatively. “Thoughts cannot harm you, not even theirs. If they could, I’d be long since dead.”

Maybe he had a point. What did it matter if his parents didn’t like you? From the stories you’d heard about them, you were pretty sure you didn’t even like them. Maybe they’d kept Loki alive for you, but it sounded like they’d done it despite their very best efforts to the contrary. You lowered your hands to brush at the imaginary wrinkles on the front of your dress, at least until Loki enveloped them in his. “Then what if I lose my temper and I give them hell for treating you the way they did? Has anyone told them that what they did to you was wrong? Because someone should tell them that and if they’re royalty, then maybe no one—” 

Loki shushed you, then, and went back to swaying gently back and forth. When he met your gaze in the mirror again, his face was positively soft, despite the way mischief glinted in his eyes. “Your anger is precious to me, dear heart, but what can it change? You could roar them down a dozen ways and none of that can change the past. Better to hold your tongue and appear to be my lovely and well-mannered companion, hmm? At least for now.”

You bristled a bit at the idea of that, but he laughed under his breath and kissed your shoulder.

“Don’t you dare tell me to hold my tongue again, Mister Loki of the Silvertongue, Loki of ten thousand tales, Loki, King of Mischief.” Some of the names, you’d heard directly from him and some of them you’d come up with on your own. They were all accurate, at least. He released his hold on you and spun you around so that you were facing him. He offered a smile that was, at least, mostly penitent, and ducked down to brush his nose against yours.

“Alright, my little spitfire. If you’ll not hold your tongue, I suppose I’ll have to do it for you.”

And then, before you could find the words to protest, he slanted his lips over yours and kissed you so sweetly that you had no choice but to let him. His kiss drew away your anger, but, more importantly, it drew away your fear. He held you like he always did, pressed against him like you were something he could not bear to lose, and he kissed you like you held the answer to every question he could ever ask. 

It didn’t matter if his family didn’t like you. It couldn’t change a thing.

Because Loki loved you.


End file.
